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This is great advice for me to hear, as I'm in a similar position right now. I've been considering obliquely slamming our competitor in a blog post, but I've he

by TWSS 15y ago

This is great advice for me to hear, as I'm in a similar position right now. I've been considering obliquely slamming our competitor in a blog post, but I've held off because I don't want us to come off like dicks. Wouldn't I be better off focusing the messaging on how we're doing it right, rather than how they're doing it wrong?

lallysingh 15y ago
You can define yourself and, through the remaining empty space, end up defining them. If you define yourself as "The simple, no-frills, easy way to Foo," for example, then you're defining your opponents as one or more of: complex, extra frilly, less easy.
- hiss 15y ago
  Well said. It's better to leave things unsaid and let the reader make the logical conclusions. More salient that way.
SkyMarshal 15y ago
Publicly slagging off competitors by name seems to backfire more often than not, unless you're Steve Jobs. However you can talk about all the ways that X is done wrong without actually mentioning by name the competitors who are doing X wrong. Clearly explain the problems you see in 'the industry' and your solutions to them, but not the other people/companies involved.
- TWSS 15y ago
  Thanks for the advice - it's pretty much what I ended up doing. Snarky enough to be satisfying, but I buried the diss so it wasn't too blatant. :^)
jarin 15y ago
I wouldn't go TOO crazy badmouthing competitors, as you may end up joining forces later on (through acquisition or partnerships).
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- Joakal 15y ago
  Didn't stop OkCupid. In fact, they did take down the bad parts. Probably part of the acquisition motivation is that the competitor didn't want the bad facts to be available. However, you should understand that they could do the same to you. In that case, have class and say "Thanks for the advice, <competitor>! 'Unfortunately we believe that's not the best direction'/'The users will appreciate it'"

by TWSS 15y ago

lallysingh 15y ago

You can define yourself and, through the remaining empty space, end up defining them. If you define yourself as "The simple, no-frills, easy way to Foo," for example, then you're defining your opponents as one or more of: complex, extra frilly, less easy.

hiss 15y ago
Well said. It's better to leave things unsaid and let the reader make the logical conclusions. More salient that way.

SkyMarshal 15y ago

Publicly slagging off competitors by name seems to backfire more often than not, unless you're Steve Jobs. However you can talk about all the ways that X is done wrong without actually mentioning by name the competitors who are doing X wrong. Clearly explain the problems you see in 'the industry' and your solutions to them, but not the other people/companies involved.

TWSS 15y ago
Thanks for the advice - it's pretty much what I ended up doing. Snarky enough to be satisfying, but I buried the diss so it wasn't too blatant. :^)

jarin 15y ago

I wouldn't go TOO crazy badmouthing competitors, as you may end up joining forces later on (through acquisition or partnerships).

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
Joakal 15y ago
Didn't stop OkCupid. In fact, they did take down the bad parts. Probably part of the acquisition motivation is that the competitor didn't want the bad facts to be available. However, you should understand that they could do the same to you. In that case, have class and say "Thanks for the advice, <competitor>! 'Unfortunately we believe that's not the best direction'/'The users will appreciate it'"